A Night in the Park
by Daphne22
Summary: A stressful summer night takes several odd turns for Valerie the ghost hunter and Danny Phantom. Will Valerie finally come to terms with Phantom?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom. If I did I'd sell him and pay off my student loans.**

Valerie Grey sped through the night sky, the lights of houses and streets streaking by beneath her. She glanced down at the tracker on her wrist where two blinking lights indicated the presence and direction of two powerful ghosts. From the way they spun and bounced off one another, she could guess that they were fighting. She was pretty much certain she knew the identity behind one of the lights but the identity behind the second was a mystery. The light representing it was bright and pulsing, however, so she knew that whatever it was, it was powerful. There was a small knot in her stomach, almost like stage fright, as she raced towards the fight.

By the time she arrived at the scene, her visor had begun to fog up slightly in the humid summer night. She tilted her head and tensed the muscles in her shoulders causing the internal cooling system to activate. While the suit had originally been impressive enough, the enhancements it had acquired with its ghostly upgrade still astounded her. Technology that sensitive (and amazingly accurate, she mused, as none of the suit's devices were never triggered by accident) seemed like something out of this world- which of course it was, really.

She hovered just on the edge of the city park and watched as the two specters flashed past her eyes. Despite their high speeds it only took her a moment to analyze them. There was the one she had expected, the ghost boy, flying towards the one she didn't recognize. It was a large hulking figure with a human-like form. Its face however, was that of a beast's; sharp teeth in a canine jaw, large glowing cat eyes, and the pointed ears of a wolf. Spread behind it were a pair of enormous half decayed feathered wings, mottled and dead, making it a sick parody of an angel.

Suddenly the paranormal creature stopped dead in its tracks and whipped around to face its pursuer. The aura that surrounded it began to glow more intensely, filling the air around it with a sickly pale light. The ghost boy made no move to indicate he was intimidated, instead he charged ahead flying at the thing at full speed with a determined yell. A sound, that only a beast could make, came out of the creature's mouth, wailing into the night. There was a flash of light and the boy was sent hurtling through the air and crashed loudly into a tree before falling to the ground.

Biting back the temptation to yell something at the demonic figure, Valerie took careful aim and shot the thing squarely in the back. It gave a howl and whipped around to meet her, receiving another shot squarely between the eyes. Not hesitating another moment, it launched itself through the air towards her, its monster's mouth clenched and menacing. She dodged and flew right, jumping out of the way of its grasp not a moment too soon.

She prepared to dodge again and readied another shot but it wasn't needed. A column of light shot out behind the beast and she watched as the blue beam dragged it backwards, its unearthly howls echoing into the night, its human-like hands clawing at the air. In a matter of seconds it had disappeared.

She flew over to the white-haired ghost, who was now holding the beast prisoner.

"What the hell was that thing, Phantom?" After two and a half years her first reaction was no longer to shoot first and ask questions later. She couldn't exactly be said to hold any affection for the ghost but she recognized he was helpful more often than he was harmful. So she grudgingly allowed him to help her fight and only shot at him when she felt he'd done something to deserve it. He would be tolerated as long as he was useful she'd decided, feeling proud of herself for putting her personal feelings aside for the sake of the greater good.

"A pretty rotten ghost," he shrugged. "That's all I know." His attention seemed diverted as he glanced over his shoulder.

"What did it want?"

"Children." He said flatly.

"Children?" She repeated, a chill running down her spine.

Phantom nodded. He seemed to catch sight of something and darted over towards a bush. Valerie followed, then landing, retracted her sled into her boots and peered over Phantom's shoulder.

Behind the bush sat a young girl in a nightgown, perhaps eight or nine. She was holding a younger boy in her arms, also in his pajamas, trying with everything she had to protect him. Tears ran down their faces while they clung to each other.

Phantom knelt down and held out his gloved, softly glowing hands to the children.

"It's all right now." He said softly. "The bad thing is gone. You're safe."

The girl looked up, not saying a word, her face quivering as she tried to stop crying. The boy kept his face buried in her shoulder.

"Are you hurt?"

The girl shook her head.

"Come on," he said. "We'll take you home." The ghost gestured to himself and Valerie. "We're the good guys."

_We? _She thought, for the thousandth time. She still couldn't figure this one out. She knew by now that the ghost boy thought of himself as a hero. But if he was so good why hadn't he moved on? Why didn't he just let death take him? Why stay lodged in a hellish existence between life and death? The only thing that made sense was a sort of obsession, like all ghosts had, binding him to the world. Playing the hero must simply be his obsession.

The little boy had dared to look up from the girl's arms and was now staring at the two unusual figures in front of him.

"I'll carry you and my friend here will carry your brother, okay?" The girl looked her brother.

"Do you want to go for a ride?" He asked the little boy.

"Home?" The little boy's eyes shone in the moonlight.

"Home." The ghost boy smiled. The little boy nodded. Valerie took her cue and approached him.

"Hey there, kiddo." She knelt down. "You're going to come with me, okay? We'll be home in a jiff." She pulled the frightened child into her arms, feeling him tense up as she did so. "Gosh, you're heavy." Valerie said, triggering the release on her sled, pushing them about a foot into the air. The kid squeaked and threw his arms around her neck. She rubbed a gloved hand over his back. "Shh. Its okay now."

Phantom held a hand out to the little girl. "Are you ready?"

The girl nodded. "Okay."

"I'm warning you, I'm very cold. So don't be surprised when I pick you up. But I'll take care of you, I promise."

"All right." She put her hand in his. She was still afraid but she was being brave. Valerie saw the ghost smile. At moments like this he seemed almost human. He picked up the little girl and she squealed.

"You are cold!"

He laughed lightly and turned to Valerie. "Follow me. I know where they live."

With that they took off into the night, traveling slowly and flying low, trying to scare their young charges as little as possible.


	2. Chapter 2

Once the children were back in their shared room the girl thanked them both and then she and her brother ran off to their parents' bedroom. Valerie sympathized. If she were one of those kids, she wouldn't want to sleep alone, either.

She and Phantom lingered outside the window until the sounds of concerned parents could be heard in the background. Satisfied with this confirmation that the children were safe and cared for, they drifted off, floating up and above Amity Park.

"How did those kids get into the park?" Valerie broke the silence that had settled between them.

"Whatever that thing was it captured them. I must have chased him out of half a dozen bedrooms before he got those kids."

"I can't believe you let him kidnap those kids." Anger rose up in her voice. If _she_ had been the one chasing the ghoul, it never would have laid a hand on anyone's children.

"I didn't mean to," Phantom snapped back defensively. "He was just so damn, fast and it was so hard to get them away from him without hurting them, too..." His voice trailed off. "The important thing is they're safe now."

"I suppose so." They stared out at blinking town lights for a moment, another silence passing between them.

"What did it want with them, anyway?" Valerie finally asked.

"I don't know." Phantom said, sadly. "All I know is that it wanted children."

"Maybe we found the boogie man."

"Maybe."

It might have been funny but they didn't laugh. Valerie sighed.

"It's just so... I don't know. What's with the universe and human spirits that people can become things like that or that things like that can appear?"

Phantom looked at her, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise and his glowing green eyes clearly curious. This was far more of a conversation than they usually had and it wasn't like Valerie to open up to him like that.

He knew Valerie could be compassionate and introspective, almost too a fault but he knew this from his relationship with her as his alter ego, Danny Fenton. They'd dated the summer before their Junior year. They'd gotten close but she'd never known about his secret, that it was actually the same boy floating next to her now. It had almost been a relief when the relationship fell apart due to non-ghost related circumstances and the two of them had drifted into friendship. He was used to her saying things like that to Danny Fenton but hearing her talk to Danny Phantom like this sent a bit of a shock through him.

"What?" she snapped. "I guess being a ghost this all seems just fine to you, so long as you can act out your hero obsession."

"No!" He jumped back. "Wait... what? Of course I think it's awful. But people do some pretty terrible things to each other, too. And I don't know... it all just sucks sometimes."

Valerie grunted in reply.

"Clockwork says that it's the price of free will for all things, being able to chose the wrong as well as the right. And as long as we are able to choose some people are going to chose wrong." Phantom said softly.

"Who's Clockwork?"

"A friend of mine. He's an old ghost."

"Oh." Somehow, Valerie had never pictured ghosts having friends. The thought was a bit foreign to her.

They flew quietly in silence for a bit longer, lazily making their way over the town, keeping one eye out for any trouble. The night was warm and clear and flying made the humidity tolerable. Ordinarily one or the other would have excused themselves by this point or another fight would have occurred between the two of them, ending in insults and threats as they zoomed away into the night. Maybe it was the children, Valerie thought. She had to admit she'd been a bit shaken up by the whole capturing and planning on doing God-knows-what with innocents by that terrible creature. Perhaps the ghost of a boy beside her had been, too.

"Would you like to go for a flight?"

"What?" Valerie's head snapped up as his voice knocked her out of her thoughts and back into the present.

"Would you like to go for a flight?"

"We are flying." Valerie looked at him quizzically, even though he probably couldn't see her behind her visor.

"I mean, like out of town. It's just... well it's been a weird night. I don't know about you but I could use a break." So it had shaken him up. Huh. "I mean, we already caught to bad guy."

"O...okay." Valerie, caught herself stuttering in surprise to the offer. But this doesn't mean we're friends, she reminded herself.


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you to Cali, The Person who Rights, and silvermoonphantom! (Man you guys are fast.)

Yeah, I'm putting up my third chapter in a single day. I had most of it written already and I've just been typing out the rest today. I will probably end up finishing it in the next day or two. (I don't plan on it being a hugly long story but we'll see where this goes.)

Oh, and just so you know, I'm getting to the part I really like. (Anyone is free to disagree with me. I welcome critique.)

**Disclaimer: Don't own but on with the show!**

They flew out of Amity Park at breathtaking speed. Valerie almost had trouble keeping up with the boy and was glad her suit kept her safe from the incredible velocity at which they were traveling. The suburban lights gave way to the more scattered lights of the exburbs and then the exburbs in turn gave way to the occasional rare light in the darkness that signified rural America. Eventually, those too became less and less frequent until they disappeared all together and Valerie realized that the darkness beneath them was trees. We must be over the state park, she thought.

In front of her, Phantom was easily visible, casting off his own eerie glow in the near total darkness of night. It was easy to fall into a daze, simply trailing behind the ghostly image in front of her, even if it was at breakneck speeds. She was jerked back to attention, however, when she realized Phantom was slowing down. She slowed herself and followed him in his descent into the forest. A shock of fear rushed over her as she realized how dark it was not just above the forest but on the ground as well. Despite having night vision, she didn't feel safe. What if this was a trap? The thought suddenly occurred to her. What if this was where the boy finally tried to finish her off, far away from everyone? Her hand flew to the gun on her hip as they neared the forest floor.

They landed on a small sandy beach next to a lake. Valerie retracted her sled but one hand remained on her gun and her eyes remained on Phantom. He didn't seem to be watching her, however. He cupped his hands together and a ball of very bright green light appeared in his hands, illuminating his face and making his white hair look positively luminescent. He flew up a short ways and left the ball floating in the air about ten feet above their heads. He repeated the action two more times, leaving the area bathed in a soft light.

Phantom perched himself on a rock near the water and began taking off his gloves. "You know, it's funny, you always read about areas being 'bathed in moonlight' and things like that but really the moon and the stars don't make enough light to light up anything except themselves." He placed the gloves together on the rock and bent over and began to work on his boots. "Well, that's not exactly true. The moon just reflects light and stars make plenty of light, some brighter than the sun, but they're so far away that it doesn't really do us much good here on planet Earth."

"Where are we?"

"The state park."

"Why are we here?"

Phantom glanced at her, taking in her frozen stance and the hand that still fluttered near her gun. "I'm not going to attack you." He brought up one foot and began rolling up a black pant leg. "And if you're going to attack me. I don't know..." He sighed and started working on the other pant leg. "I just like it here. You can see all the stars. And it's quiet. It's relaxing." Leaving the gloves and boots on the rock, Phantom floated over to a rock on the edge of the lake, sat down and put his feet in the water. Valerie watched him for a moment as he sat there, gently splashing the water with his feet and staring up at the sky, awash with a thousand stars.

He really is odd for a ghost, she thought. Maybe he is trying to be friendly.

After another moment's consideration Valerie retracted her suit so that her gear sat in the backpack on her back. She made her away over to Phantom, glad that there was some light to see by, now that her night vision was gone. Kicking off her shoes she sat down next to him on the rock, her own toes barely touching the top of the lake.

"It is nice here," she said. "It's very peaceful without any other people around."

Phantom smiled at her, the charming sweet smile of a young man. Valerie let herself smile back. She found herself looking at his face now that she was sitting so close to him. He really was handsome for a ghost. He was slender but powerfully built, giving him a graceful air, like that of a dancer. His messy white hair gently fell over the green eyes set in a broad boyish face. Yet, there was a gravity to him, something that made him seem older at the same time. He looked about her age, she realized with a shock. It was odd, considering that he was dead. When she had first met him, hadn't he'd looked at least two years younger? Why should a ghost age? She'd never really noticed it before as she too had been growing up, but why should he have grown up as much as she?

"Why do you look older?" She blurted out. Phantom's back shot up straight.

"Well, um..." he looked down and his hand rubbed the back of his neck out of nervousness. He very strongly reminded Valerie of someone but she couldn't exactly figure out whom. "You see..." He brought his hand down and stared at it for a second. "Thing is..." He turned sharply towards her.

It wasn't an attack but it surprised her nonetheless. Years of honed reflexes and her mistrust of the being beside her rose immediately to the surface. She threw herself at him knocking them both backwards off of the rock and on to the sand below. They grappled for a moment but she'd put herself at a disadvantage and he was far stronger. In a moment he was on top of her, pinning her down.

He lay there gazing at her, his emerald eyes boring into her. She stared back, her dark brown eyes, nearly the color of night, never wavering from his. Neither of them spoke for a moment or acknowledged the misunderstanding.

What happened next she couldn't quite explain nor could she say who had really instigated it.

He bent his head down and closing his eyes, kissed her softly. She lay there without moving for a second before jerking away.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

"No, I'm..." she trailed off. He was still above her, still fixed on her eyes. There was such a similarity to someone she knew well and a moment of recognition was trying to fight its way to the surface but she just couldn't place it.

He leaned forward again and this time he kissed her with all of his mouth and she was kissing him back. Maybe it was stress or tiredness or just the events of the night but she needed a release and loosing herself in the moment gave her one. It gave them both one.

His mouth was cool and she remembered him telling the little girl to expect him to be very cold. But cold wasn't the word for it. He was cooler than any living man but there was a reassuring feeling to the coolness of his skin as her hand traveled up the back of his neck and her fingers intertwined with his hair, the coolness of his hand as it stroked her cheek; his lips, tongue, his fingers all cool and soft and pleasant. He was oddly light and strangely solid at the same time as he pressed into her. She pulled him closer to her, just letting herself become lost in the warmth her own body was radiating.

Then she realized she felt no heartbeat in his chest. She couldn't feel his breath on her cheek. These were things she'd never really paid attention to when she kissed a boy before but now that they were missing, she noticed. She made a choking noise in her throat.

I'm kissing death, she thought.

Valerie broke the kiss and moved her hand from the back of his neck to his chest, pushing him away lightly. His eyes stared into hers and she stared back looking at the shiny green orbs, the incandescent white hair, and the gently glowing pale skin.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Phantom eased off of her, sitting up.

"No, I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have done that."

He walked over to the rock where his gloves and boots were placed and began to fuss with his boots. The two of them sat in silence bewildered and unable to look at one another.

Then a thought occurred to Valerie and she knew of whom it was she was reminded. A kiss is like fingerprint. No two people are exactly alike and everyone has their own recognizable mark. He kissed just like Danny Fenton.


	4. Chapter 4

She sat up and squinted her eyes at him. He looked an awful lot like Danny Fenton, too. And he acted like him. That gesture earlier, where he had rubbed the back of his neck, that was a Danny gesture. And the fascination with the stars...

"What's the connection between you and Danny Fenton?" she asked aloud. The ghost's head jerked up. If ghosts could blanch and go pale, he surely would have done so.

"Huh? What do you mean?" He stammered. His eyes darted to the right and left as if looking for an escape.

"You look like him, you act like him, and you kiss like him." She said assertively. "Are you some sort of weird paranormal projection he sends out? Are you overshadowing him? I know there's some sort of creepy connection between you two. He's my friend. I think I deserve to know what it is."

The boy sat silently and overly focused on the top of the boot he'd just put on. "I don't think you'd believe me if, I told you." He said quietly.

Valerie brushed the sand off of her hands and smoothed out her skirt. "I fought the boogie man with a ghost tonight. I'll believe anything."

The spirit sat quietly inspecting the top of his boot for another minute. "If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell another living soul. For my sake."

"Not if you're hurting Danny."

"I swear I'm not."

"Maybe, then."

"Please. I... he... my... our... life would be over."

"All right. I won't tell."

"Swear it."

His bright green eyes gained an glowed even brighter as he fixed on her with a determined look.

"I swear." The moment she said it, Valerie knew it was true.

"Well, the best way to explain it is that I... we... " the ghost stood up. "Perhaps I should just show you." A light radiated from his stomach and passed over his body, from the top of his head to the bottoms of his feet. In the wake of the light was an ordinary, not glowing, boy in a t-shirt and jeans.

Valerie realized her mouth had fallen open as her mind struggled with what this meant.

"See, there is no we or our. There's just me. I'm Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom."

"What? How?" Valerie stuttered and stumbled to her feet.

"There was an accident when I was fourteen- in my parent's lab. I sort of half died and when I came to I was half ghost. I'm what they call a halfa- half a ghost, half a human." He looked at Valerie gauging her reaction. "I'm not really making much sense am I?" He took a hold of her hand and led the shocked young woman to the rock he'd been previously sitting on, thinking perhaps it was a good idea if she didn't stand. "If it helps, I swear I didn't bring you here to tell you this." He said softly. "Or to kiss you, either." Danny gave an uncomfortable laugh.

"I tried to kill you." Valerie finally choked out. "I was dating you and I tried to kill my own damn boyfriend." She turned and looked at him, her eyes blazing. "Why didn't you try to stop me, didn't you know who I was?"

"I knew. I just…" Danny's voice trailed off for the thousandth time that evening. "Hey, my parents try to kill me on a weekly basis. No harm no foul." He placed a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it lightly to comfort her. It was such a Danny thing to do, Valerie almost burst into tears.

"So are you really one of the good guys?" She asked stiffly wiping a tear from her eye.

"I try. It's hard sometimes, though."

Valerie glanced at him cautiously, she was awash with a thousand feelings and not sure what to think of her friend. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know. I mean, things get messy sometimes. Stuff gets destroyed, even though I don't mean for it, too." He dropped his hand and avoided her eyes. "Or your dad loses his job because I can't control a damn dog."

"I don't think that was your fault."

Danny's head jerked up in surprise.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I hated you. I hated you like I hated no other person or thing on this planet. My whole life changed out of my hatred for you. But you," Valerie lifted her hands weakly and dropped them back on to her lap. "You're Danny Fenton. And I can't believe that Danny Fenton would ever hurt me so badly on purpose."

"I wouldn't."

"I know."

The silence of the night echoed between them and they both gazed at the stars, grateful for the distraction the universe provided them.

"So who else knows?" She finally asked.

"Sam, Tucker, and my sister. And I don't want anyone else to."

"So why tell me?"

"You pieced so much of it together, what else could I say?" Danny shrugged. The stars twinkled down at them, the belt of the milky way visible as it arched across the heavens.

"Why didn't I see it sooner?" Valerie asked, half to Danny, half to the sky.

"Clockwork says that we can't see what we don't expect to see. He says that when Columbus's ships came to the West Indies the natives couldn't see them until they landed, because they'd never seen anything like them before. They had no context so to their eyes it's like the ships weren't even there."

"Who is Clockwork, anyway? That's the second time you've brought him up tonight."

"Like I said, he's my friend. He's sort of my mentor with the whole ghost thing, I guess."

Valerie bent down and scooped up some pebbles from the rocks edge. She started throwing them in the lake one at a time. They landed in the water in a series of satisfying plunks.

"So what's it like?"

"What?"

"Being half dead." Plunk.

"I don't know. It just sort of is. It's like being totally alive and not. I've got all these powers but sometimes they don't work right. And sometimes I get worried about all that other ghost stuff, too. Like being easily controlled or becoming obsessed."

"I guess that's your trade off, then." Plunk, plunk.

"What?"

"Get a ghost's powers, get a ghost's weaknesses." Plunk.

"What's yours?" Danny's fingers rooted around in the sand feeling for something.

"My what?"

"Your trade off. What do you give up being a ghost fighter?" Danny picked up a flattish rock and ran his fingers over the surface.

"My life I guess. Most of my life gets kicked to the curb because I have to do this stuff." She threw the last of the rocks in her hand. Plunk, plunk, plunk, plunk.

"Heh. Me too." Danny pull his arm back and hurled the rock at the water. They heard it skip twice then land with a plunk much louder than any of Valerie's.

"You are such a boy."

Danny smiled a little. Then he started laughing, softly at first then louder. Valerie turned her head with a look on her face that suggested he was crazy.

"What?"

"It's just..." He said through the giggles.

"Just what?" She demanded.

"We're seventeen!" He laughed even louder. "Do you get it? We're seventeen and we're sitting here talking about how hard it is to try and save the world!"

Valerie smiled. It was sort of funny.

"Yeah, most kids our age just wonder who they're going to prom with." She allowed herself a small laugh.

"Well you don't have to worry about that. You're going with Nathan." He elbowed her slightly.

"You jerk!" She play punched in him the shoulder. It felt just like hanging out with Danny. Of course, she realized, she _was_ hanging out with Danny. It was just so much to wrap her head around. It had been such a weird night. First the awful ghost thing and then finding out that Danny was a ghost; not to mention making out with her ex-boyfriend only not to realize until later that he was her ex-boyfriend.

"So, um, Danny?" Valerie asked uncomfortably.

"Yeah?"

"About the whole kissing thing."

"Yeah?"

"Can we chalk it up to stress and a long night? I mean, I feel weird about it and I don't want things to get weird between us. You know? We tried it and it didn't work so... um, yeah."

"Yeah, that was kinda weird. Deal."

That sat there for a moment like the two awkward teenagers they were, not sure what to say next. Finally, Danny stood up.

"I think we should probably get going. Before someone wakes up in the middle of the night and realizes we're long gone."

"Yeah."

There was a flash and Valerie turned her head just in time to the same light she'd seen before spring from the boy's middle and run its way out to his finger tips. This time though, it left a ghostly fire in its wake and her friend was replaced by a specter with green eyes that radiated light.

But this still _was_ her friend.

The ghost- no, she corrected herself- Danny held out a single white gloved hand.

"Friends?" He asked, in a familiar echoing voice.

Valerie stood up, meeting his bright eyes with her dark ones. She activated her suit and felt the familiar comfort of metal and fabric as it enveloped her body.

"Allies." She took his hand. "But that doesn't mean I still don't have a whole lot of questions for you."

Danny grinned at her for a moment and she grinned back. Then with a shocking whoop he sprang into the air and whipped around the still floating lights, extinguishing them and then shot into the air.

"Catch me if you can!" He called.

"Oh, I will, ghost!" Valerie called back, activated her sled and shooting up after him.

They flew in a dazzling series of twists and turns, half headed home, half headed who knows where. And then the ghost hunter girl yelled something into the night.

"Wait, Danny! We have to go back! I forgot my shoes!"

XOXOX

And that's that. Can you believe I meant for that to be a one-shot? That would have been one looooong one shot. I'm glad it ended up in chapters.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, to everyone who gave me kind reviews in the first less than twenty-four hours of this story going up. (Wow. I really did that up fast. Like I said I had most of it written before today. I guess I just got a little trigger happy with my updates.) I look forward into running into you on these boards again, soon!


End file.
